


Dissent

by Mems



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon deviation, Drabble, M/M, One Shot, aka fuck canon, eruri - Freeform, short fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-05
Updated: 2016-08-05
Packaged: 2018-07-29 13:07:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7685746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mems/pseuds/Mems
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Levi wouldn't let Erwin die.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dissent

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not okay with the recent update so here's me denying that it ever happened. Enjoy.

Time seems to stop the moment that Erwin slaps the serum from his hands. He says something, but Levi doesn’t hear it. All there is, is a buzzing in his ears and the feeling of hopelessness at the wave of Erwin’s white flag. He supposes that it’s supposed to be an easy give, a man’s quiet retreat into peace, but in the breaths he takes, he tastes defeat, a bitter ash on his tongue clawing down his throat.

It’s too soon for this to be over. It can’t be. It won’t.

Levi’s defied Erwin many times in the past. When he was just a thug from the streets with little to lose, his digressions were numerous. Even as a soldier, dutiful and bound, he had his moments of question, but Erwin would always quell his dissent, and he would always follow his lead without hesitation. But not this time. He couldn’t afford to give Erwin what he wanted this time; death would come, and it would come to them all.

Erwin would just have to wait a little longer.

There’s only moments to spare, but Levi is quick. Someone else moves for the syringe when they see that he does – Mikasa, perhaps? He doesn’t pay attention to the who – but whoever they are, they’re too late. Levi retrieves it, determined, his mind only functioning enough to guide his body to a singular task. The glass of the syringe is cold beneath his fingers, and he grips it tight, wondering for a second if it’s so tight he’ll break the only thing standing between humanity’s survival and its defeat.

Someone shouts at him as he barrels back to Erwin’s side, a place he’s always belonged and refuses to give up because of whatever idiotic sense of nobility or death wish that’s gotten his Commander willing to give his life for someone who’s existence could never measure up to Erwin’s impact on humanity. Perhaps that’s cruel of him – he’s never denied that he can be cold and this is an occasion where sentiment simply isn’t an option.

When he kneels at Erwin’s side, there’s a moment where he wonders if he’s too late. Erwin’s chest is still, his body limp against the rooftop. But a shallow breath comes from between Erwin’s lips; with a pang of guilt he realizes Erwin’s face is the most peaceful he has seen it in months.

He apologizes, softly, because it’s not likely that he’ll get that look for many more to come.

Erwin’s skin gives easy to the sinking of the needle into the muscle of his arm. Levi draws the plug back, drawing crimson into the liquid already there before pushing it back, surging the serum through Erwin’s veins. He hears and angry shout from behind him, and a struggle, but he doesn’t care about the anger of two children who simply don’t understand, who never will.

He waits. A second. Another. Nothing happens and he can feel the part of him that kept going for Erwin’s sake crumbling –

A great explosion has the rooftop falling from below his feet. He shields his eyes, a blinding light making it impossible for him to keep them open. His footing is lost as he begins to fall, down and down into rubble. The metallic clank and whirl of maneuver gear firing off whizzes in his ears, and he fires his off, too, managing to catch a part of the building that isn’t falling, hanging there among dust and crumbling brick. He coughs, that dust a smog in his lungs and he squints to try and find any evidence that his choice wasn’t made in vain.

Slowly, the dust begins the settle.

It’s a massive, towering calf Levi makes out first, sinewy and muscled as it rises to meet knee and thigh, upward into a solid torso and broad shoulders. It’s a titan, that much is certain, all exposed cartilage and inhuman size, but it’s is Erwin-shaped, only larger, and the golden halo of hair on its head is messy, though unmistakable.

He finds it hard to mesh the idea of a titan with that Erwin, the Commander so diligently bent on ridding the world of them. But it stands there, still, calm, holding its two hands out in front of its face as if it can’t believe they’re there, flexing the digits of a long-lost limb tentatively, getting a feel for their strangely armored coating. 

Levi goes to call his name, but the word is stuck in the back of his throat, chocking him sweetly with the fact that he even has the chance to call the name at all. 


End file.
